Help

Newsletter

Hunting Island, Harbor Island under S.C. no-swim advisories

COLUMBIA, S.C. - State health officials have issued a second swimming advisory for Beaufort County because of high levels of bacteria in the water.

But there is no reason to suspect the high bacteria count at Hunting Island State Park, announced Monday, and the similar situation on Harbor Island, announced Wednesday, are connected, said Adam Myrick, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

"We're checking on this one just like the one from yesterday and plan to resample tomorrow," he said Wednesday.

The department is urging swimmers to avoid the area 200 feet north and south of Harbor Island's monitoring station at South Harbor Drive and Pelican Point until tests show the bacteria levels have dropped.

State officials, meanwhile, are investigating the cause of bacteria that has polluted the water along a strip of Hunting Island. They suspect the beach may have been caused by private septic tanks that were damaged by beach erosion after recent storms.

The contamination prompted health officials to issue a swimming advisory this week for a half-mile stretch of beach from 44 Cabin Road south to Fripp Inlet.

"Last weekend, the one cabin fell in, and then basically the water washed sand out from under the pilings and then the cabins collapsed," said Dave Payne, project manager for the state health department.

"The dunes have been eroded to the point where it's getting up underneath the cabins where the septic tanks are," he added, referring to as many as three privately owned cabins in the south end of the park.

Agency officials are inspecting the septic tanks and making repairs to seal their contents, if necessary, he said.

Meanwhile, officials are also considering other sources of the bacteria, including animal feces and human feces that did not come from the septic tanks.

The state issues an immediate advisory if a water sample contains 500 colony-forming units per hundred mills. A sample taken Monday from the water at Hunting Island had a count of 723.

The S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism has not asked for beach-renourishment help from the state Office of Ocean & Coastal Resource Management to address the recent damage. In 2006 Hunting Island received $8.5 million in state funds for beach restoration, records show.

"The natural ongoing erosion process where the road was damaged is being taken into account in developing our options," said Marion Edmonds, spokesman for the parks department.

Any request for help would have to come from the owner of the park, which is the state parks department said Dan Burger, spokesman for the S.C health department's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management,

Both agencies are investigating the are where the road has been closed and the swimming advisory has been issued, Edmonds said.

"We are working to determine the most appropriate way to reestablish access to the south end of the island," he said.